Alvaro Morata’s involvement in all phases of Milan’s play is partially backfiring as the Spain international is struggling to find scoring consistency at the start of his Rossoneri career.
The 32-year-old moved to the Stadio San Siro last summer to replace Olivier Giroud, who left the club after scoring 49 goals from 132 games across all competitions.
However, with just two nets in his first 11 matches in a Rossoneri shirt, Morata’s goal contribution looks deficient and arguably far from what the club hoped for.
Morata averaged a goal every 359 minutes since joining Milan from Atletico Madrid in the summer, and while he has never been renowned for being a prolific striker, La Gazzetta dello Sport points out that his limited presence in the opponents’ box lies at the foundation of his goalscoring problems.
The Italian newspaper reported that Morata had 3.9 touches per game in the opponents’ box in his first 11 Rossoneri outings, a figure which highlights how he often tends to play far from the goal rather than making his presence felt in the final third to capitalise on his side’s opportunities.
Alvaro Morata of Milan (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
The comparison with former Milan striker Olivier Giroud is almost concerning, as the French averaged one goal every 147 minutes in his last season at the San Siro, which saw him bag 17 nets from 49 games in all competitions.
Coach Paulo Fonseca’s playing style requires Morata to repeatedly drop deep in midfield and make defensive runs, but this ends up depriving the team of their main offensive weapon, as they lack a presence up front with Christian Pulisic being the only player who proved able to score with regularity.
Morata only reached double-figure in Serie A once in his four seasons at Juventus in two separate stints, when he found 11 league goals in 32 games playing under Andrea Pirlo.
